The Chairman of the PDP Caretaker Committee, Ekiti State, Hon. Dare Adeleke, has strongly condemned the state of emergency declared by President Bola Tinubu in Rivers State.
He described the president’s pronouncement as illegal, warning that it could tear the country apart and plunge Nigeria into anarchy.
In a statement he personally wrote and signed, Adeleke said:
“It is shocking that President Tinubu has embarked on a mission to weaken Nigeria’s democracy and destroy the very fabric on which it stands.
Even more ironically, the same Tinubu as governor of Lagos State, once stood up to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who subjected him to the same political oppression that Governor Sim Fubara is currently facing in Rivers State. Obasanjo wanted control of Lagos, just as Tinubu now wants control of Rivers.
It has become glaring that the bullied often learns from their oppressors and, in turn, becomes a more ruthless bully. Whereas Obasanjo stopped at withholding allocations to Lagos under Tinubu, today’s bigger bully has gone further; declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State and blatantly disregarding the Nigerian Constitution. Tinubu, in his desperate bid to seize Rivers State ahead of 2027, hand in hand with his loyalist, Nyesom Wike, has effectively truncated democracy in the state.
There is no longer a need to sugarcoat the truth. Tinubu, who failed to win Rivers before and has now lost the goodwill of Nigerians due to his disastrous and impoverishing policies, is determined to control every part of Nigeria; especially Rivers and all Southwest states, by any means necessary.
The president, who swore to protect democracy and the people, has embarked on a reckless mission that could tear the country apart and push it into anarchy. The fragile fabric of our democracy is now so tattered that many fear it may soon unravel completely due to Tinubu’s indiscretions and disregard for the country, its institutions, and its people. His fingerprints are all over every political crisis afflicting the nation.
The 1999 Constitution supersedes all other laws, yet Tinubu has blatantly ignored it by appointing a retired military officer, Admiral Ibokette Ibas, to govern Rivers State after suspending the governor and the state’s National Assembly under the guise of protecting national interests.
The reason Tinubu refuses to rein in his minister, Wike, is clear. He does not hold Wike accountable for heating up the polity in Rivers because Wike is his hatchet man, executing dirty political schemes ahead of 2027.
It is disheartening that Wike, a traitor to his party, the PDP, is shamelessly oppressing his own people, the very people who once stood by him, who defended him against political attacks, and who helped him rise to power. All because he wants to play godfather, continue ruling Rivers by proxy, and continue to exploit its resources.
As Chairman of the PDP Ekiti Caretaker Committee, I vehemently condemn President Bola Tinubu’s illegal declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, which many have rightfully described as a coup against the governor and his people.
I hereby call on the judiciary to restore Nigerians’ trust in the institution and to put President Tinubu in check.
The National Assembly must also refuse to be complicit in this disgraceful abuse of power. They were elected to uphold democracy, not to enable its destruction.
I also call on the international community to call Tinubu to order, because the very soul of Nigeria’s major resources, crude oil and it’s derivatives will be again, be threatened.
The suspension of Sim Fubara, who has become a hero to his people, must be overturned immediately.”
Dare Adeleke
Chairman, PDP Ekiti Caretaker Committee
March 20, 2025
